Monster Island News
| Welcome to M o n s t e r l a n d F o r u m s! We are a growing, casual and friendly online community of movie fans who like to talk about giant monsters, horror and sci-fi in cinema, on television and on DVD. There are forums for sports, casual chat and video games as well. For those of you who like making art, writing stories and creating videos, our community includes a forum for these submissions as well. Check out our main index page and other board forums! Anyone is welcome to join our community! M o n s t e r l a n d F o r u m s was created on January 29, 2006 for the purpose of giving fans of giant monster films and other sci-fi/horror movies a friendly online meeting place to discuss all of their favorite films and other things of interest. -Lee "Packmule" Merritt Site founder |
| Farewells; Goodbyes to those no longer with us | |
|---|---|
| Topic Started: Feb 26 2006, 08:19 AM (545 Views) | |
| packmule | Feb 26 2006, 08:19 AM Post #1 |
Site founder - Searching for Cropsy
  ![]](http://209.85.117.197/static/1/pip_r.png)
|
Actor Don Knotts has passed away. He was 81.He died Friday night, 2-24, in a Los Angeles hospital from pulmonary and respiratory complications. The actor, a mild mannered and soft spoken man in real life, is most famous for his role as jittery, bumbling, but good-guy Deputy Barney Fife on The Andy Griffith Show, a hugely popular television series which ran from 1960-68. He also appeared on The Steve Allen Show and of course as the "swinging" landlord Ralph Furley on the TV sitcom Three's Company. He is survived by his wife and two daughters. --Rest In Peace :( |
 Packmule's Pen Latitude Zero(1969) The Relic(1997) | |
 |
 
|
| KaijuFanatic | Feb 26 2006, 03:22 PM Post #2 |
DVD Fanatic
|
Very sad news, indeed. I thought Knotts was at his finest on the Andy Griffith Show, but Knotts brought a lot of laughter to anything he did. I always thought he was hilarious in the film, The Reluctant Astronaut. Thanks for the laughter and memories, Mr Knotts and RIP. |
| Hers, Mine & Our DVDs | |
|
|
| packmule | Mar 8 2006, 12:04 AM Post #3 |
|
Site founder - Searching for Cropsy
|
Dana Reeve has passed away, succumbing to lung cancer. She was 41. A former singer-actress in her own right, she is perhaps best known as the widow of the late Christopher Reeve, Superman actor paralyzed from the neck down in a tragic horseback riding accident in 1995. She put her career aside to become a caregiver to her husband, who was left a quadraplegic by the accident, always at his side during public appearances after his accident, and helping her husband raise money for ongoing spinal-injury research. In my opinion Dana Reeve faced her husband's accident and the decade+ years of caregiving for him afterwards with courage, dignity, grace, and selflessness. A truly remarkable woman who will absolutely be missed. Rest In Peace. :( |
|
Packmule's Pen Latitude Zero(1969) The Relic(1997) | |
|
|
|
| KaijuFanatic | Mar 8 2006, 09:53 AM Post #4 |
|
DVD Fanatic
|
I was shocked when I heard about this. To be honest, I knew very little of Dana, other than the fact she was married to Christopher Reeve and the support and caregiving she gave to him following his accident. It was only after her death that I read about her career as a singer/actress and how she put everything on hold to stand by and help support Christopher in his battles and to bring awareness to the research in spinal cord injuries. I recall the announcement, last August, I believe it was, when she was diagnosed with lung cancer and immediately thought how sad that this woman has endured such sadness and heartache and still has a battle in front of her. I certainly feel for her child with Christopher and Christopher's children, how horrible to lose both parents in less than 2 years! Dana appeared to face this latest adversity with a calm determination and it's sad to see the battle was lost. Rest In Peace. |
| Hers, Mine & Our DVDs | |
|
|
|
| Ro-Dan | Mar 9 2006, 10:37 PM Post #5 |
Administrator
|
Life's just not fair. She stuck by Christopher the whole time and helped out with charitable causes only to be struck down herself. I really hope there is an afterlife where Dana and Chris are re-united for all eternity. |
 Follow me on Twitter! Be my friend on Facebook! | |
|
|
|
| packmule | Mar 9 2006, 11:06 PM Post #6 |
|
Site founder - Searching for Cropsy
|
That was my initial thought after her passing. And you're right. Life is certainly not fair. It wasn't, IMO, to Dana Reeve, or her husband. The fact that they both moved forward with their lives, working to overcome the new challenges they faced, and raising more awareness, and funds, regarding spinal-injury research, speaks volumes as to the great character of these two individuals-May they both Rest In Peace. :( |
|
Packmule's Pen Latitude Zero(1969) The Relic(1997) | |
|
|
|
| packmule | Jun 1 2006, 10:31 PM Post #7 |
|
Site founder - Searching for Cropsy
|
It was announced today that Aaron Smith, the founder of the Monster Zero website, died Tuesday of a heart attack. He was 36. The Monster Zero website, now nine years old, is one of the best kaiju sites, IMO, on the web. Browsing this site it is easy to discern all the time and effort that has been continually put into it, a tribute to the hard work and dedication of Mr. Smith, who was employed full-time as a web designer. I hope anyone reading this post will take the time to stop by the MZ website and see the site. thumbs up On a final note, may you Rest In Peace sir. :( |
|
Packmule's Pen Latitude Zero(1969) The Relic(1997) | |
|
|
|
| packmule | Aug 31 2006, 05:24 PM Post #8 |
|
Site founder - Searching for Cropsy
|
Actor Glenn Ford has died. He was found at his home. There was no immediate word on the cause of his death. He was 90. For more details regarding his passing go to www.msn.com(under "Entertainment"). I have always enjoyed Mr. Ford's films. He conveyed a quiet dignity and oft focused, though never threatening, intensity to his characters, which were mostly protagonist. Among my favorites starring this acting icon: 1. The Courtship Of Eddie's Father(1963) 2. Torpedo Run(1958) 3. The Fastest Gun Alive(1956) 4. Midway(1976) 5. Superman(1978) I hope Turner Classic Movies will pay tiribute to this marvelous actor, posthumously, by showing a marathon of his best films. For those of you who have never seen Glenn Ford at work, I hope you will take the time to rent some of the movies he stars in, or catch them on TCM. I think you'll be glad you did. May he Rest In Peace. :( |
|
Packmule's Pen Latitude Zero(1969) The Relic(1997) | |
|
|
|
| KaijuFanatic | Sep 1 2006, 08:00 AM Post #9 |
|
DVD Fanatic
|
Sad news, indeed. :( I heard this on the early morning news, yesterday and while I suppose you can't be shocked at the passing of someone in their 90s, it still is sad and we seem to be losing more and more film greats of the past, all the time. Lee, I'm almost sure TCM will have a full day of Ford films in his honor, they seem to run a marathon of films from the greats when they pass away. Your list of Ford favorites is a great list and I'd only add, The Blackboard Jungle and Happy Birthday to Me to the list. Sure, Happy Birthday to Me might be seen as a step down for Ford, but he handled his role with all the professionalism you'd expect from Ford. R.I.P. Mr Ford and thanks for all the wonderful entertainment we have to remember you by. |
| Hers, Mine & Our DVDs | |
|
|
|
| packmule | Sep 1 2006, 08:37 PM Post #10 |
|
Site founder - Searching for Cropsy
|
I have never seen The Blackboard Jungle(1955) nor the other one you mention. I have heard that the 1955 film, in which Glenn Ford co-stars with(a very young) Sidney Poitier, is stellar. I will try to catch it on TCM, where it shows from time to time. |
|
Packmule's Pen Latitude Zero(1969) The Relic(1997) | |
|
|
|
| packmule | Sep 1 2006, 09:14 PM Post #11 |
|
Site founder - Searching for Cropsy
|
In honor of Glenn Ford's passing Turner Classic Movies(TCM) has changed their movie lineup for Sunday, September 10, 2006. Here is the article regarding the change, and some information about this great actor: __________________________________________________________________________ TCM Remembers Glenn Ford With A Film Tribute on 9/10 TCM will change its regularly scheduled programming on Sunday, September 10th to honor the late Glenn Ford (1916-2006) with a 6-film tribute. Here is the new lineup for 9/10: 8:00 AM The Desperadoes ('43) 9:30 AM A Stolen Life ('46) 11:30 AM Gilda ('46) 1:30 PM Blackboard Jungle ('55) 3:30 PM The Teahouse of the August Moon ('56) 5:45 PM The Courtship of Eddie's Father ('63) GLENN FORD PROFILE He was called the fastest gun in Hollywood. Able to draw his weapon in .04 seconds - faster than John Wayne or Gunsmoke's James Arness. Thanks in part to these quick hands he was often cast in Westerns - including the appropriately titled The Fastest Gun Alive (1956). But his career highlights also include a number of memorable comedies, crime dramas and war movies. It was the appeal of his screen persona - an average Joe - that made him a popular star. He never won an Oscar®, but in 1958, Glenn Ford was voted Hollywood's number one box office attraction. Ford was born Gwyllyn Samuel Newton Ford on May 1, 1916 in Sainte-Christine, Quebec, Canada. His father was a railroad executive who moved the family to California when Glenn was eight years old. Ford got his first taste of acting at age four in community theater and continued to perform in high school productions. He joined a West Coast touring company in 1934 - as a stage manager. In a short time, Ford was performing with the company on stage in a production of The Children's Hour. He was soon discovered by a talent scout for 20th Century Fox and made his screen debut in Heaven with a Barbed Wire Fence (1939). In his first film, Ford played a department store clerk, who must marry a girl to save her from deportation. The film was based on a story by Dalton Trumbo and directed by silent star Ricardo Cortez. Fox may have seen him first, but Ford signed with Columbia Pictures. He spent the next few years in small roles at the studio before WWII interrupted. Ford served in France during the war, building safe houses with the Marines. He would retain his officer's commission at war's end, later making goodwill visits to Korea and Vietnam. And in 1992, he would be awarded the French Legion of Honor Medal by the country of France for his WWII service. During the war years, Ford also got married - to dance star Eleanor Powell. This would be the first of four marriages. After the war Ford tried to resume his Hollywood career but it was a slow process. It was through Bette Davis that he got his big postwar break. She approved him as her romantic lead in A Stolen Life (1946). But it was another film that same year that would change Ford's career forever. The classic film noir Gilda (1946) costarring Rita Hayworth pushed Glenn Ford into the spotlight. The Hayworth-Ford pairing proved so popular that they were reteamed in three more pictures including: The Loves of Carmen (1948), Affair in Trinidad (1952) and The Money Trap (1965). Over half of Ford's films were Westerns. The genre kept him especially busy during the 1950s and '60s. There were The Violent Men (1955) with Barbara Stanwyck and Edward G. Robinson and 3:10 to Yuma (1957) with Ford as an outlaw being escorted to jail by Van Heflin. Ford played a sheep farmer in The Sheepman (1958) with Shirley MacLaine and a tough trail boss in Cowboy (1958), teaching Jack Lemmon about life on the range. Cimarron (1960) was a Western drama about the Oklahoma land rush based on a novel by Edna Ferber. And in The Last Challenge (1967), Ford faced a duel with a young gunslinger to defend his reputation as a gunslinger. Ford also excelled in contemporary dramatic roles. One of his best-remembered films, Blackboard Jungle (1955), pitted him as a teacher up against a group of inner city delinquents. In Ransom! (1956), Ford played the father of a kidnapped boy, who turns the tables on the kidnappers when he decides to offer the ransom money as a reward for their capture (Ford's role would be reprised by Mel Gibson in the 1996 remake). Terror on a Train (1953) saw Ford in action as a bomb expert who must race the clock to defuse a bomb on a train. Ford's military training often came in handy on the big screen. He played Captain Fisby in the Marlon Brando film The Teahouse of the August Moon (1956), which is set in post V-J Day Okinawa. And in Torpedo Run (1958) he played an obsessed submarine commander determined to sink the Japanese ship that had killed his wife and daughter. Much later, Ford joined Charlton Heston, Henry Fonda and Robert Mitchum in the Pacific war epic Midway (1976). Ford also made his share of comedies. In The Courtship of Eddie's Father (1963) Ford played a widowed father, whose son (a young Ron Howard) is determined to find him a new bride. He also made several military comedies -- such as Don't Go Near the Water (1957), Imitation General (1958) and Advance to the Rear (1964). And Ford co-starred with Debbie Reynolds in two films: the comedy-thriller The Gazebo and the light sex comedy It Started with a Kiss (both 1959). In his later career, Ford turned his attention to television. He appeared in numerous TV movies and starred in two short-lived series in the 1970s -- Cade's County where he played a sheriff in the modern west and The Family Holvak which cast Ford as a Reverend and family man in 1930s Tennessee. He also made time for the occasional feature appearance - including his turn as Pa Kent in Superman: The Movie (1978). A cameo in Tombstone (1993) was to serve as Ford's Hollywood swansong but failing health forced him to withdraw from the project. In his retirement, Ford lives in Beverly Hills. While he never won an Oscar®, Glenn Ford was a three-time Golden Globe nominee - the first two nominations were for his roles in The Teahouse of the August Moon and Don't Go Near the Water. His third nomination came in 1961 for Pocketful of Miracles, Frank Capra's remake of his own Lady for a Day (1933). This time Ford won the Golden Globe for Best Actor Musical or Comedy. Not bad for a guy who by his own account wasn't an actor. As Ford put it, "people laugh when I say I'm not an actor, but I'm not. I play myself." by Stephanie Thames |
|
Packmule's Pen Latitude Zero(1969) The Relic(1997) | |
|
|
|
| gojira2 | Sep 19 2006, 06:56 PM Post #12 |
|
Monsterland Associate
|
I have sad news. Some of you may not have heard this but the crocodile hunter aka steve irwin was killed September 5th. He was killed by a sting ray. I don't want any flaming or making jo0kes about him in this topic. this is to respect our hero. |
      You can try to win | |
|
|
|
| packmule | Sep 19 2006, 07:08 PM Post #13 |
|
Site founder - Searching for Cropsy
|
I read, with heavy heart, about the sudden and tragic death of Steve Irwin on the internet shortly after his passing. When I first watched this guy on television(the Discovery Channel) I admit I thought he was kind of bonkers. Watching him in action more I realized that he was a trained professional with the various assortment of wild, and often dangerous, animals that he featured on his shows. He was an affable, truly likable fellow, full of life, who loved his family, and I think, all the crocs and other critters who, IMO, Mr. Irwin also considered to be part of his family, as well. He was always generous to charities, and worked diligently on behalf of many species of animals to protect them from poaching. He leaves behind a wife and two(2) children. I should have posted his passing at this site before now, and I apologize for not doing so, Patrick. I think it's safe to say that Steve Irwin will be missed, but will never be forgotten. May he Rest In Peace. I hope his wife and children, the latter as they grow older, continue the important work, and legacy, that Mr. Irwin has left, for everyone. Let me add Patrick that there will never be any flaming, or jokes, in any thread at this forum regarding a deceased person, whether they are a famous person(celebrity), or not. You have my solemn word on that my young friend. :) |
|
Packmule's Pen Latitude Zero(1969) The Relic(1997) | |
|
|
|
| KaijuFanatic | Sep 20 2006, 07:52 AM Post #14 |
|
DVD Fanatic
|
This was big news while we were in Canada, we went into town one afternoon and all the folks at the store we went to were talking about the tragedy and it was headline news in their papers. Truly, sad for Irwin's family and all his fans, I suppose one could say, the man died while doing something he very much loved and that is always good. Just horrible luck that it happened and from what I read, Irwin's wife, Terri, may not have even been in the country when the accident took place.....I can't imagine having to be told about something like that and not being nearby at the time. :( |
| Hers, Mine & Our DVDs | |
|
|
|
| gojira2 | Sep 24 2006, 08:58 PM Post #15 |
|
Monsterland Associate
|
Yeah I'm gonna miss him. I looked up to him alot. When I first saw him catch a croc I thought what a cool guy. He dedicated his life to protecting those ccreatures and I must say he did one hell of a great job. Rest in peace my friend. You will always be remebered. |
|
You can try to win | |
|
|
|
| 1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous) | |
| Go to Next Page | |
| « Previous Topic · Casual chat · Next Topic » |
7:29 PM Nov 23
